Customer Reviews

Samsung HLT5087SAX 50-Inch Slim LED Engine 1080p DLP HDTV

5 star:		(152)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Like some others who have reviewed this set it represented the most expensive tv I have ever purchased. The 50inch version was the biggest I could fit in my tv room. Since Samsung has not yet released this model to brick and mortar stores I bought from Amazon. Initially all went well with Amazon confirming a receipt date about a week out. Then things went sour. Amazon handed the order off to Electronics Expo. Electronics Expo handed delivery off to EagleGL shipping. Eagle picked up the set at the Electronics Expo company in New Jersey on the 14th of May and took it to Philadelphia on the 15th. That day they claim they called my home to arrange delivery. No call came in as documented by my answering machine. BUT Eagle never made any attempt to contact me again. Instead they left the set in their warehouse for a week. As the original shipping time span was running out I contacted Amazon to get a better idea of when to expect the set but they didn't want to handle any questions. Instead they threw everything back to Electonics Expo. As far as Amazon was concerned I was not their customer - this was an issue with a third party vendor. Amazon would not help. It was up to me to contact the third party vendor for relief.

Doing some digging I found a phone number for Electronics Expo and called them. The person I spoke with said they had just changed shippers since their former shipper broke too many sets in delivery. Fortunately he gave me a phone number for Eagle. After several more days waiting I called Eagle, that's when I discovered the set was still in the warehouse and Eagle was happy to leave it that way.

Arrangements were finally made to have the set shipped the additional 30 miles to my home. I contacted Electronic Expo to let them know what I had discovered and arranged. The person I spoke with stated this was unacceptable bahaviour on the part of the shipper and that he would discuss this with his manager. I have yet to hear anything more from them.

I again contacted Amazon to let them know that the combination of Electronics Expo and EagleGl were destroying the reputation of Amazon as a trusted on-line vendor. Amazon again treated me as a stranger who was not their customer. Again they said that this was a problem for Electronics Expo. I doubt I'll ever buy anything this expensive from Amazon again. I also caution all others who are thinking of buying this set to check the supplier as shown on the Amazon item description page. If the vendor shows as Electronics Expo you'd be better off going directly to the vendors site and dealing directly. Don't get caught in the middle between Amazon and their third party vendors. Better yet, Samsung has stated that they will be selling these sets in bricks and mortar stores in June. Waiting a few more days will eliminate the need for any on-line transactions.

As for the set, it is fantastic. That's why I gave this review a 5. This set is more than state of the art. Picture clarity is so good you can put your nose on the screen (not recommended) and not see any pixels. It looks like film! Sound is good but connect this to a surround sound amp and you you'll have theater quality sound from DVDs and from television shows. Set up is relatively quick given the huge number of customizing controls this set offers.

So I highly recommend this set. Just be very careful about who you buy it from.

I've had my set for three days, and it has proven to be a very nice upgrade from my over-a-decade old 27" CRT. I had, at one point, considered getting a Sony SXRD, but decided on the Samsung for four main reasons: Price, standard definition performance (since we'll have to deal with SD sources for some time; the SXRD does quite poorly on SD sources, judging from a friend's set), the PC interface (SXRD doesn't support the full 1920x1080 resolution when taking input from a computer), and of course, the long life LED.

The TV is beautiful, both in picture and cabinet. The thin bezel makes it look "all picture," compared to flat panels with their thick frames. Depth of the set is not a concern for me, since I will not wall mount the set. The transparent menus are attractive and fairly intuitive, though they could be more responsive.

HD broadcasts received over a simple, cheap, indoor antenna look great. Other than the PC input (hooked up to one of the three HDMI ports with a DVI-HDMI cable; an RGB port is also included), it may be a long time before I ever feed it a 1080p source, as I'm not willing to jump on HD DVD or Blu Ray at their current prices and unclear future, but the content I have viewed (SD/HD broadcasts, Nintendo Wii, DVD) look fantastic.

At first I was a bit concerned about buying this Samsung HLT5087S 50" slim LED engine 1080p DLP HDTV online without getting a chance to see how it actually looked in person, but I decided to buy it anyway. Well, I couldn't be more pleased. Very beautiful on or off. The HD is incredible. I've heard some say that the sound is not all that great. Well, I dissagree. The sound is good quality. So even if you don't have a surround sound system you won't be dissapointed in what this set gives you with its true surround sound. I've had the set about a week now and everthing is great. If you have any concerns about the delivery put that to rest as well. The delivery was excellent.
Like all electronics this will probably be a dinasour in about a year but remember this is 1080P so you will be ahead of the curve (for awhile anyway). And as someone once told me "If you find something you like and it works the way you would like it to, get it a be done with it." I like what I have very much and I am done. I trust that you will have as good of an experience.

This is a really nice TV. I did a lot of research before purchasing this TV. The fact that the LED DLP lasts the life of the TV is what did it for me, since I was planning on buying a Samsung DLP anyway. Before purchasing this set I saw that there was also an HLT5089S that was very similar. After visiting the Samsung website I still couldn't figure out what the difference was between the 87S and 89S model, so I called Samsung. They said the only difference is that the 89S model has Bluetooth capability, which isn't something I need. I currently have a cable box/DVR, XBOX 360, and the Pioneer XBOX 360 sound system hooked up to it. The Game Mode on this set looks really nice. One of my favorite shows is Planet Earth and that just looks sick as hell in HD on this set. The sound on the TV is ok, but I would recommend hooking up a sound system. After my purchase I registered this product on the Samsung website and they gave me 3 more months of warranty coverage for free. I also purchased the matching stand which was fairly easy to set up.

18-month update: My review has not changed. This is an excellent TV. I have had no problems and the color and clarity of the Samsung picture is as good as ever. I use a Playstation 3 to play Blu-Ray movies and this television displays the images wonderfully. My only peeve is that there is a three-range color display mode: the selections are "dynamic," "standard" and "movie," with "dynamic" being the more vivid, hotter color scheme. By default, the TV turns on in "dynamic" mode. This is the mode they use on the showroom floor, to make the onscreen colors jump out at you. I prefer the more natural colors in "movie" mode, and I have not been able to make it the default. So I have to manually make the change every time I turn on the TV.

I read many reviews and checked online sources before purchasing the Samsung HLT5087SAX 50-Inch Slim LED Engine 1080p DLP HDTV. I have had it for 3 weeks and it's everything I had expected and more. It is connected to digital cable (with HD programming) via component video connections, a 1080i Sony DVD player is connected through an HDMI cable (I can't see investing more money in Blu-Ray or HD DVD sets until that controversy is settled), and an X-box is attached by regular RCA jacks. The set looks really nice in my medium-sized living room -- viewing distance is 10 to 12 feet.

Setup was painless with the on-screen menus; the included manual explains most everything in greater detail. There are abundant connection inputs for HDMI, S-video, RGB component, digital, optical and analog sound, and RCA jacks, and they are located on the right side of the set for convenient access. The three default picture modes-- movie, standard and dynamic-- work fine for most purposes. I prefer the softer lighting of the movie mode, but playing Halo on the X-box in dynamic mode will ratchet up your adrenalin levels. All these settings are individually adjustable and you can reset them to the defaults with a single button push.

Standard TV programming is adequate; I would have rated it higher until I saw HD programming. HD viewing is simply awesome. The DLP technology is very clear and detailed, the colors are both vibrant and subtle, with white whites and nice, sooty blacks. Movement and action is much better rendered than some of the LCD screens I looked at; there is no blurring or loss of detail. I watched a World Series game last night and could see the spin on a curveball and fingerprints on the batter's helmet. Superb, and I don't particularly like baseball!

The built-in sound is fine for my living room area, and much better than my old 27" TV set, but I'm saving up for moderately priced home theater system. The picture quality deserves an upgraded sound system. Overall, I think this Samsung set will meet my needs for a long time, with cutting edge technology, and picture quality which is matchless.

I purchased this TV at Fry's (in person) in SoCal for about $1300, and for me, this TV is an excellent value. So while the TV at Fry's was cheaper than Amazon, with Amazon, you don't pay tax, and sometimes you get free shipping. Either way, it's a great value. For a comparable LCD of this size, you would pay easily $2,000+.

The picture is great for HD images - in fact, beautiful. However, SD images via digital cable (connected via HDMI) are sometimes a little pixellated. I also have it hooked up via component vid cables to my OLD XBOX (non 360) and progressive scan DVD player. Both have pretty great video on this TV. Since I spent the money to get such a great image quality, I figured that it's worth it to buy a next-gen HD player, so I purchased an HD DVD player (for about $230) on Amazon that came with 10 HD DVDs. If you don't have something capable of playing 1080p on this television, you're missing out! With a machine like this, you will definitely see the difference.

I also liked the fact that this TV has an LED light source, which hypothetically means that you should not have to change the bulb in the projector. Since it's a new use of the tech, I did go ahead and buy an extended warranty, just in case...

A few minor issues, some that others have mentioned:
1) I suffered at first from the dreaded "blue-halo" effect, which basically is a blue-ish area of light that becomes visible in dark areas of high-contrast scenes, around the lower center of the screen. This seems to be caused my a ring around the lens of the projector that should be black, but is reflective silver in some TVs. I called for service and it was fixed within minutes.
2) Viewing angle is limited, which sucks if you have a large number of people gathered around it. Just make sure that you're in the center and can see the screen. Screw your friends.
3) There is a "hot" or bright spot in the middle of the screen and I can notice that the center is a little brighter than the edges. Most of the time, I can ignore this.

Otherwise, this is a terrific television, which can really give you a truly cinematic experience in your home - at an extremely affordable price.

UPDATE: 10/28/2010
So I've had this television now for nearly three years and it's still going strong. I had one additional issue that required service about 18 months ago. The on/off button on the front of the television needed replacing, and fortunately since I had a service plan, it was fixed relatively quickly and efficiently.

I would also note that my standard definition cable image quality really is pretty bad, but I generally never watch SD anymore. One additional gripe is that after doing some research, I realized that even though the television was marketed as "3D ready," the format that it was ready to use is not the format used by 3D televisions being sold today, nor by 3D blu-ray, etc. Not such a big deal, but a little disappointing.

Otherwise, I am still very happy overall with this television, and I was ultimately also able to get $100 back from Fry's since they lowered the price within a month of my original purchase.

After completing homework at consumer's report & reviewing other buyer comments, I decided on the DLP over plasma or LCD. I chose the Samsung DLP HLT5087S because it is Energy Star rated, it will go in my vacation rental where we need to be able to view in bright light, and because I am already a happy owner of a 2 year old 50" Samsung DLP at home. The new LED engine with extended bulb life really made the choice easier.

I am so very happy with the slimmer version, the new trimmer case on the TV, and the picture is even better, crisper, brighter without an HD cable box than I have at home WITH an HD cable box. Go figure.

The delivery company was excellent, even accommodating my schedule to deliver at the beach one day earlier than their normal day of the week. White glove service made it so easy (with reverse floor plan they trudged up 2 flights of steps to the 3rd floor without complaint) and the "plug & play" set-up was an unexpected pleasure. I especially like the new "source" button on the remote which makes it so simple to switch between components of TV, DVD, & VCR.

Thank you Amazon for a GREAT price and wonderful service. I'll be looking to buy ALL my future appliances this way!

This is our first HDTV and we did a *lot* of research before buying. Didn't care for the prices & limitations of LCD/Plasma TV's or the bulb replacement of the DLP's. Finally discovered the Samsung LED Engine DLP and it seemed to offer the best value & performance for our needs. The Amazon vendor Vann's not only offered the best price shipped but also included a matching Samsung DVD-R160 upconverting DVD player/recorder for free! We ordered the Samsung HLT5087S on Saturday and it was here on Wednesday, delivered in perfect condition by Yellow. Setup was fast & easy with the light weight of the Samsung making it easy to move around.
Samsung HLT5087S Pros: Excellent 1080p picture quality w/good brightness for light rooms, thin bezel (only .6"!) enhances theater effect, easy to set up & use, remote is full-function and needs no programming to work with the included Samsung DVD player/recorder, only 16" deep so doesn't need much space, quiet (no loud fans to distract), multiple format A/V input/output (use HDMI for the best picture quality), good viewing angle (90 degrees max optimal but still clear to the stated 140 degrees), low power usage.
Cons: No headphone jack (minor) & integral speakers could be better (again, minor, since most people would rightly wish to connect this to a home theater sound system). These quibbles aren't enough for me to subtract from the 5 star rating I've given it. Big thumbs up!

Edited to add: Turns out my unit had the dreaded "blue halo" effect. Called Samsung and a tech was out 2 days later. Replacing the entire DLP engine fixed the problem in less than 20 minutes and now the picture is perfect! Kudos to Samsung warranty service!

My husband will soon retire after thirty eight years at TI. His last 13 years have been in the DLP division. His nick name in the group is the "Golden Eye". He has watched the developement of the TVs with baited breath wanting to get the best product available. The LED TV triggered our purchase. He is so thrilled, he made a point to speak to the Vice President of the DLP division in the next meeting. LED in his opinion is the way to go.

Received my HL-T5087S last week, and have been enjoying the best in-home picture I've ever had since. The LED system seems to be working perfectly and quietly (I've heard the color wheel system tends to be on the loud side). The picture is great, and we haven't even hooked up the cable yet - the HD tuner seems to be strong enough to pull excellent 1080i and 720p signals, though I have yet to view any 1080p. I've been impressed with the viewing angle as well, as I was initially concerned that buying a DLP would force us to endure a significantly smaller angle. Samsung advertises 140 degrees, which seems to be accurate - wide enough so anyone on the love seat has just as good a picture as those on the sofa.

Black levels are great, color options give you the opportunity to modify your picture any way you like. Best DLP on the market - Samsung continues to get even better.